INDIANAPOLIS – The Lakers hit the road, and promptly got lost like a bumbling pack of tourists. They simply couldn’t find their way out of the Conseco Fieldhouse with a victory over the lackluster Indiana Pacers.

The record will show they lost when Troy Murphy’s tip-in danced around the rim and fell through the basket as the final buzzer sounded, giving the opportunistic Pacers a 118-117 victory Tuesday night.

In fact, the Lakers lost this one much, much earlier. They could not put the Pacers away when they had the chance, and they paid a steep price for allowing their hosts to hang around long enough to pull out a victory. They also lost because they gave up a staggering 19 offensive rebounds.

Murphy’s tip, which was actually more like a desperate stab at Marquis Daniels’ missed reverse layup, was the last and most painful of the Pacers’ offensive rebounds for the Lakers to stomach. Murphy slipped inside of Trevor Ariza to get a hand on the ball.

As a crowd of 16,412 fans, plus players and coaches on both teams, held their collective breath, the ball bounced off the rim once, twice, three times and maybe more if you count the side-to-side action before it tumbled through the hoop.

The Pacers and their fans celebrated in raucous fashion. The Lakers stood with their hands on their hips and stared at the replay on the overhanging scoreboard after losing for only the second time in 16games to start the season.

“I knew it was going in by the way it was bouncing,” Kobe Bryant would later say. “I was just hoping the ball would drop through the basket, so we’d have one second to go at least. It just stayed up there forever and the clock ran out.”

Bryant led the Lakers with 28 points, passing the 22,000-point mark for his career with an acrobatic layup and a free throw after he was fouled late in the first half. He is the second youngest to top the milestone, having reached it at 30 years, 101 days. The immortal Wilt Chamberlain reached the mark when he was 30 years, 100 days. Bryant’s career total is 22,013 points.

Reaching the milestone was a mere consolation prize, however. In fact, Bryant wasn’t on the court when the Lakers played their best, when they went on a 17-0 run to end the third quarter and seized a 101-86 lead entering the fourth. Actually, it was his two free throws with 2:28 left in the third that started the run.

But instead of building on their momentum in the fourth quarter, instead of taking control of the game as they have so many times this season, the Lakers lost their rhythm and energy, and soon enough, the game.

“We didn’t deserve it,” said Pau Gasol, who had 20 points and nine rebounds. “We didn’t go get it. … We thought we could have done better out there in the fourth quarter. Little things, little plays make a big difference. You learn, you focus for the next game and you make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

The Lakers won’t have to wait long to try again. They face the 76ers tonight in Philadelphia, the second game on their three-game trip.

They also play the Wizards on Friday night in Washington before returning home Sunday to play the Milwaukee Bucks.

None of the three teams on the trip has a winning record, with the Pacers holding a mediocre 7-10 mark after ending the Lakers’ seven-game winning streak.

Danny Granger led Indiana with 32 points, and Murphy had 16.

However agonizing the result was for the Lakers, it underscored the need for more consistent play as the 82-game slog that is the NBA regular season continues. They must be better from start to finish, according to Lakers coach Phil Jackson.

“I was a little bit aggressive with the team because I didn’t think they functioned right,” Jackson said. “They didn’t react well defensively. As a result, Indiana hung around and found a way to win it. … (The Lakers) came out and fiddled it away.”

Elliott Teaford covers the Anaheim Ducks for the Orange County Register and the Southern California News Group. He covered the Ducks for 12 years, including the Stanley Cup season, for the Los Angeles Times and the Daily Breeze before returning to the beat in 2018 for SCNG. He also covered the Lakers for five seasons, including their back-to-back NBA championships in 2009 and '10. He once made a jump shot over future Utah Jazz center Mark Eaton during a pickup game in 1980 at Cypress College.